Xia Yuan Festival (Xia Yuan Jie)

October 15 of the lunar calendar is the ancient "Xia Yuan Festival" in China. At this time, it is the harvest season in the countryside. Almost every household in Wujin area makes small dumplings with Xingu milled glutinous rice flour, packs vegetable stuffing, and "zhaitian" outside the gate after steaming. In addition, as the old saying goes, "in October half, three officials lead the rice husk and dumpling Zhai". It turned out that Taoism said that the day was the birthday of the "three officials" (heaven officials, earth officials and water officials). Tianpoles were erected outside the doors of Taoist believers' homes, and yellow flags were hung on the poles. In the evening, three sky lanterns are hung on the top of the pole to be the three officials of tuanzizai. After the Republic of China, this custom was gradually abolished, but folk ceremonies such as sacrificing the dead and burning the Treasury were held in advance on the "Zhongyuan Festival" on the 15th day of July of the lunar calendar.

October 15 of the lunar calendar is a traditional Chinese Folk Festival, the next Yuan Festival, also known as "next yuan day" and "next yuan". The origin of Xiayuan Festival is related to Taoism. There are three officials in Taoism: Heaven officials, earth officials and water officials. They say that heaven officials bless, earth officials forgive sins and water officials solve misfortune. The next Yuan Festival is the time when the water official solved the problem and the emperor of mingu solved the problem. It is commonly known as the day. According to the investigation, the water official recorded and played the heavenly court to solve the problem for people. " On this day, the Taoist temple became a Taoist temple, and the people offered sacrifices to the dead and prayed for the water officials of the lower Yuan Dynasty to solve their problems. In ancient times, the imperial court also stipulated that Japan banned slaughtering and postponed the execution date of the death penalty.

In addition, among the people, there is the custom of folk craftsmen offering sacrifices to the furnace God on the next Yuan Festival. The furnace God is the supreme old gentleman, probably derived from the Taoist alchemy with a furnace.

According to the Chinese calendar, the lunar calendar is on October 15, which is also the last moon festival of the year. When the moon is full, people have to carry out the most important ancestor worship activities.

The ancient "Xiayuan Festival" is also known as "Xiayuan day", "Xiayuan", "Xiayuan birthday" and "Xiayuan Shuiguan Festival".

Records on the following Yuan Festival:

It is also recorded in the annals of Chinese Customs: "October is expected to be the next Yuan Festival. It is said that there are also fasting chanters at the time of relieving misfortune in the water palace."

Song Wu Zimu's "Mengliang record": "(October) 15, the day when the water official solved the misfortune, the palace watched the scholars and concubines, set up fasting, built Jiaojiao, or solved the misfortune, or recommended death."

Hebei's new Annals of Xuanhua County: "it is said that when water officials solve misfortune, people also have fasting."

Yang Wanli in the book of rites of Yu Chugong on the first day of the coming festival

Lin Gong Chao Ye chased early and missed all the copper pots to kill the beginning.

Half a wisp of blue cloud crosses the moon, and a regular silver mirror is broken into a comb.

Since the sunken water to pray for longevity, scattered as non smoke full King empty.

It has been bullied by the new cold, and the willow Yin is separated from the sun.

"On the fifth watch of the first day of the next year, I reached Tianqing Temple" Lu You

The imperial court paid homage to the treasure house in the Balin palace, and gave strong support to the poor with hairpin clothes.

Hold Qiu's false sleep basket and keep it stable, and blow the incense of smoke and birch in the lane.

At the beginning of the day, the sun is still bleak outside the mountain.

Ming Yu should have an expert smile, and five fights drive you busy in the morning and night.

Spring in Qinyuan Anonymous (Song Dynasty)

The ice ravine is as crazy as Bolun and xilehao in his life. Like books, chrysanthemum tea, clear eyes, climbing is not beautiful, and a Chenopodium stick helps the waist.

People in the lake and sea often make simple moves, such as bean curd, duckweed and scaly preserved soup. Who cloud old, full of wind and moon, hidden in the poem ladle.

In the early morning, the Swan rushes into the sky. Now the Pleiades should be Xiao again. Remember the vertical arc Festival. The next day is appropriate. The next yuan is a good scene, which belongs to the previous dynasty.

Cold courage is like the sky, and strong intestines are like swords. You must pour a thousand cups of longevity wine. It's the plum blossom, the moon, and the Lanjiao River Bridge.

"The Fishing Song of Pohu lake, the beginning of the May 8th festival of the next Yuan Dynasty"

Virtual age is called Jiazi, and the first degree is frost day.

The sea is full of sails and the moon is full in yaochi.

Carefree knows the nature of the crane, indifferent to the year of the pine.

Hope to enjoy the wine, Xia cup drunk birthday feast.

Fasting and sacrificial rites

The next first day is also one of the fasting dates stipulated in the Taoist fasting law. Taoism believes that all things that rely on divine power, such as praying for blessings, suffering, pulling out suffering, apologizing for sins, seeking immortality, prolonging life, surpassing the dead and so on, should practice fasting. The methods of fasting are roughly divided into two categories: one is slightly three;

1、 Set up a supply room. That is, set up an altar for fasting and dipping in God to seek blessing and avoid disaster. In ancient times, there were nine methods of forming altars: the upper three altars were set up by the state, the middle three altars were set up by officials, and the lower three altars were set up by scholars and common people. Later generations set up altars and gradually relaxed. Fasting can "accumulate virtue and heal";

2、 Diet fast. Before sacrificing, the ancients should bathe and change clothes, do not drink alcohol, do not eat meat, so that the outsiders will not be stained with dirt, and the internal organs will be pure and empty, clean body and heart, so as to show sincerity and respect, which is called fasting. Fasting can "protect longevity with God";

3、 Xinzhai. Xinzhai can "calm the mind".

The other category is roughly nine: one coarse food, two vegetable food, three diets, four refined food, five teeth, six light, seven Qi, eight vitality and nine fetal food.

In addition, all Dharma matters, such as recitation, repentance, sacrifice and refining, are also included in the scope of fasting.

Sacrifice ancestors

With the passage of the sun and moon, the Xiayuan Festival has gradually evolved into a traditional sacrificial festival with abundant dishes, offering sacrifices to the souls of ancestors and praying for good fortune and good fortune. Sacrificing ancestors is a reflection of the belief of ancestors. Human belief in ancestors is human worship of themselves. The purpose of believing in and offering sacrifices to ancestors and expressing piety to the souls of ancestors is to pray for the protection of ancestors to future generations. The emergence of ancestor worship is related to the ancient concept of soul belief. Primitive people believed that everything has a soul, and human soul is independent of the body. Because human beings regard themselves as a dual structure in the primitive belief, that is, the body structure and the soul structure, they believe that the body can die and the soul will live forever, which is the concept of "the soul does not die".

It is this view of human soul that leads to the prevalence of the custom of sacrificing ancestors. In order to pray for the souls of their ancestors to protect their descendants from disaster and misfortune, people hold sacrificial activities for the souls of their ancestors. Generally speaking, the method of offering sacrifices to ancestors is the ancestral temple. There are ancestral temples in the country and ancestral halls and family temples in the people. Through sacrifice, we pray for good fortune and good fortune. All over the country have different customs in specific ancestor worship and blessing Zouxian folk in Shandong Province, in the next Yuan Festival, to build a special banquet, sacrifice ancestors. The folk in Ningyuan County, Hunan Province will generally hold a god welcoming competition before and after the next Yuan Festival.

Pray to the gods

From the evolution of sacrificial contents and objects, Xiayuan Festival has melted into many sacrificial customs in agricultural production, making it an agricultural sacrificial festival for sacrificing gods, praying for disaster and evil, and praying for a good harvest. In Putian, Fujian Province, on the evening of the next Yuan Dynasty, every family should worship the God of water in the field to pray for the moisture of crops in dry winter and the safe winter of crops. When offering sacrifices, put on the vegetarian food and insert one root of incense on the ridge to show piety.

Puxian folk

On the 15th day of October of the lunar calendar, many people in Puxian will arrange tables in the open space in front of their houses for food, burn incense and tribute silver, and let children evenly insert burning incense sticks into a small square called "cloth field". It is said that this custom is to sacrifice the "dead", commonly known as "Pu Gu", which is to ferry the lonely soul.

October 15 of the lunar calendar is a traditional Chinese Folk Festival - Xiayuan Festival, also known as "Xiayuan day". The origin of Xiayuan Festival is related to Taoism. Taoists have three officials: Heaven officials, earth officials and water officials. They say that heaven officials bless, earth officials forgive sins and water officials relieve misfortune. The birth dates of the three officials are the 15th of the first month, the 15th of July and the 15th of October of the lunar calendar. These three days are called "Shangyuan Festival", "Zhongyuan Festival" and "Xiayuan Festival". The next Yuan Festival is the day when the water officials solve the problem and the valley emperors solve the problem. When the next Yuan Festival comes, the water officials descend to inspect the good and evil in the world and relieve disasters for people. It is said that on this day, according to the investigation, the water official recorded and played the heavenly court to solve the misfortune for people.

"Xiayuan Festival" coincides with the rural harvest season. Some people in Puxian make tofu and then fry it. They also use Xingu ground glutinous rice flour to make pancakes, wrap vegetable filling hearts, and fry them into "shadow cake", "onion cake", or fragrant and delicious fried food dumplings, which are then used as offerings outside the gate for "fasting day". At the same time, they also burned "gold and silver bags" and other activities to worship the souls of ancestors, that is, folding red and green paper into fairy clothes, folding tin foil into silver ingots, putting them into white paper paste bags, worshipping and incinerating them.

As the old saying goes, "at half past October, the dragon boat is led by three officials.". In the past, Taoists also erected a sky pole outside their home on this day, and hung a yellow flag on the pole, which read "heaven, earth and water mansion", "good weather", "peace of the country and the people", "eliminating disasters and blessing" and so on. On the folk Xiayuan Festival, there is also the custom of craftsmen offering sacrifices to the furnace God. The furnace God is the supreme old gentleman, which probably stems from the Taoist alchemy with furnace. On the day of Xiayuan, the villagers made Ciba at home, presented relatives and friends, steamed rotten steamed buns, etc., which was also the happiest day for rural children in the past. They could eat a lot of fruit food called "Fuyu" after sacrifice.

Diet custom is an important part of festival custom. In the long-term practice of many festival activities, human beings have formed independent and special festival foods, such as dumplings for the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month, zongzi for the Dragon Boat Festival, moon cakes for the Mid Autumn Festival, etc. like other customs and habits, as a common emotion and common mentality of the nation, it unifies people's festival behavior and has great influence on the survival, development and development of the festival Development plays an important role.

Xiayuan festival also has its unique seasonal food. Take Beijing as an example. During Xiayuan Festival, every household should make "bean mud bone flowers". "Bean paste" is the "bean paste filling" made of red beans. It is the Beijing snack "steamed stuffed bun with bean paste". This kind of "steamed stuffed bun with bean paste", which can be eaten all year round, was already a seasonal food in October of Meng Dong in the Ming Dynasty hundreds of years ago.

Relevant description

The revival of the next Yuan Festival needs to be explained that the revival mentioned here does not mean that the whole people must come to the next Yuan Festival with great fanfare. In fact, it should be said that it is good to let the reasonable cultural content of Xiayuan Festival continue in the times, and the relevant festival folk customs can be selectively inherited, so that the national compatriots who want to celebrate this festival have a choice.

There is a very valuable thing in the next Yuan Festival, which is based on such a good wish: to eliminate and resolve the persistent difficulties and hardships in the course of life. This kind of life experience cannot be summarized or even suppressed only by "ignorance" and "religious blind obedience". We consider that if the next Yuan Festival can be shaped as the Chinese people's "relief day" and "blessing day" in today's era, it is expected to be revived.

Basic ideas

Activities such as burning "gold and silver bags" to worship ancestors should be discarded. And adopt other more appropriate ways to commemorate our ancestors. Xiayuan Festival comes from Taoism. In fact, for today's Chinese people, this day is an opportunity to feel the Taoist culture closely. Therefore, the next Yuan Festival can also become a day to experience Taoist culture.

In addition, because the water official is Dayu, this commemoration of Dayu obviously has a more positive significance and can continue to become a beneficial activity for people to feel the traditional culture. For convenience and practical considerations, it is advisable to combine the commemoration of ancestors with the worship of Xiayuan water officials, and add two humanistic consciousness of commemorating ancestors and praying for blessings. And achieve this goal through frugal and convenient customs.

Here, we need to clarify a question. The worship of Xiayuan Shuiguan does not mean that we must believe in any idol of Taoism. In fact, we can take Xiayuan Shuiguan as a Religious God in the sense of cultural symbols to express people's good wishes to overcome difficulties and solve difficulties. Just as people don't set off firecrackers to drive away the monster Nian. The theme of the next Yuan Festival is to eliminate difficulties and solve difficulties. It is especially suitable for human care activities such as visiting patients and comforting the needy. The food customs of the next Yuan Festival can be faithfully inherited and integrated into the beautiful wishes of people to bless each other.

National Costume

Xiayuan Festival is a serious and solemn national festival. Solemnity and introversion are the keynote of the festival. The festival Hanfu worn at this time should adapt to this festival atmosphere. Red and green, too festive and too lively Hanfu are inappropriate. On the whole, we suggest that on the next Yuan Festival, men can wear deep clothes with solemn and low colors, and more solemn clothes such as xuanduan can be worn during worship. Women can wear dark clothes, Ru skirts, etc.

Practical scheme

1. Home to commemorate ancestors and deceased relatives: after bathing, wear appropriate clothes, arrange several cases in the clean home, put fish and fruit as sacrifices, and prepare a little wine. On the night of the next Yuan Dynasty, incense and wine offerings are held to commemorate our ancestors and deceased relatives. If there is a courtyard at home, it is better to conduct in the courtyard after the moon rises. When worshipping, appropriate etiquette can be adopted according to the identity of the memorial.

2. Offering sacrifices to the water officials of the Yuan Dynasty at home, praying to eliminate difficulties and make life more comfortable: it's OK to carry out on the same several cases. After commemorating their ancestors, they burned incense and offered wine again, told the Yuan water official about the hardships and troubles of life, and prayed for a more peaceful and smooth way of life. In this process, you can sit on the cushion without paying homage and other etiquette. In order to create a festive atmosphere, lanterns can be hung under the main hall and next to several cases (general lanterns can be used, and the color of lanterns should be solemn and peaceful).

3. Visit Taoist cultural sites and participate in relevant festival activities: according to local conditions, if there are Taoist cultural sites such as Taoist temples, you can go with the above clothes. Watch and participate in relevant Festival cultural activities in Taoist temples to understand the cultural knowledge of Taoism. The whole family can go.

4. Participate in the sacrificial activities of Yu memorial sites: Yu memorial sites are widely distributed in all parts of China, including tombs, temples and steles. You can participate in various cultural activities held in these sites to worship Yu according to the actual conditions of all parts.

5. Make festival food for the next Yuan Festival at home or give it to relatives and friends: steam some rotten steamed stuffed buns for the whole family to eat, make some Ciba, wear Han clothes to give it to relatives and friends, and say some words of blessing to alleviate hardship and good luck.

6. Visit patients and other people in distress and bless them: you can bring Xiayuan festival food at the same time.

7. Many people can participate in "water color" activities. They all wear Han clothes and cruise on rivers and lakes by color boats at the rise of the moon. It can also place sacrifices, prepare musical instruments and hang lanterns on the ship, carry out the above-mentioned activities such as commemorating ancestors, offering sacrifices to the water officials of the Yuan Dynasty, praying and blessing, and eat the festival food of the Yuan Dynasty. It is especially suitable for inviting relatives and friends such as patients (who can travel) and those in distress who encounter changes to pray and solve their difficulties collectively, relieve their pain, relax their body and mind and pray for happiness.